Skip to main content

Njoroge, Morimoto Take First Hokkaido Marathon Titles

by Brett Larner

With a noon start time and temperatures peaking at 34 degrees the 2011 Hokkaido Marathon was a brutal race of attrition.  In the men's race Ibaraki-based Kenyan Harun Njoroge (Team Komori Corp.) broke away from the large pack at 30 km with veteran Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) and the young Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) in tow to form a trio which stuck together to maintain pace until 38 km.  Njoroge then surged again to pull away for the win in 2:14:10.  Defending champion Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) could not stay with the lead trio late in the race and finished only 7th in 2:19:14.

In the women's race 2006 winner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) frontran at PB pace against a field which included course record holder Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), former national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and, returning from injury, 2006 Vienna Marathon winner Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya).  Splitting as fast as 3:23/km Yoshida built up a lead of over 3 minutes, but the heat took its toll and by 37 km she was running with a pronounced limp.  By 39 km her pace was down to 4:14/km as Morimoto rolled up from far behind at 3:32/km.  Morimoto took the lead at 39.6 km and continued on to the win in 2:33:45.  Shimahara and Shibui overtook Yoshida in the final km to round out the top three, Yoshida staggering across the line in 4th in 2:35:49.

2011 Hokkaido Marathon
Sapporo, Hokkaido, 8/28/11
click here for complete results

Men
1. Harun Njoroge (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 2:14:10
2. Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:14:22
3. Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:14.39
4. Kensuke Takahashi (Team Toyota) - 2:16:29
5. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:16:49
6. Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) - 2:18:41
7. Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) - 2:19:14
8. Kenichiro Setoguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:19:20
9. Kenzo Kawabata (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 2:19:56
10. Yuko Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:20:33

Women
1. Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) - 2:33:45
2. Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 2:34:26
3. Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:35:10
4. Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) - 2:35:49
5. Emi Ikeda (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:36:35
6. Asami Furuse (Team Kyocera) - 2:36:55 - debut
7. Sayuri Baba (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:40:49
8. Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 2:41:29
9. Chinami Fukaminato (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:43:52
10. Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC RC) - 2:45:51

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Good run in the heat by Shibui, who looked a bit plump...compared to the usual Japanese woman runner.
August 31, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

10000 m National Championships Preview

  Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under
3 comments
Read more

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a
1 comment
Read more

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

  For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading
1 comment
Read more